What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)

[GerateWohl 4,395]

Listening to the OST of Solo - A Star Wars Story. And again realizing, that this score is far too bombastic, even in little scenes. Powell pushes 80 to 100% of orchestra power most of the time. At least far too often. Less would have been more. 

But the themes are so great and this score contains so many good ideas. Powell was really inspired, when he wrote this score.

And this is far better than anything from the TV shows. 

[JTN 2,064]

46 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Less would have been more.

My thoughts exactly. Powell is always firing on all cylinders. It’s sometimes exhausting even listening to it. 

 

46 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Powell was really inspired, when he wrote this score.

I agree. Maybe because he got to work with JW, who visited him in his studio. 
 

46 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

And this is far better than anything from the TV shows.

Even more agreed! Powell is the only composer so far who’s been worthy of JW’s musical world of Star Wars.

[Bespin 8,484]

Presenting the long-awaited 20 CD box set, "The Legend of John Williams," a comprehensive musical odyssey chronicling the unparalleled artistry of the maestro himself. This anthology serves as a testament to John Williams' unrivaled contributions to the world of film music and proudly showcases the exclusive inclusion of the OSTs of "Jaws" and "Jaws 2" on a single CD, presenting an awe-inspiring fusion of Williams' musical prowess and Spielberg's visionary storytelling. The hauntingly beautiful yet fear-inducing scores of "Jaws" and its sequel have etched an indelible mark in Williams' illustrious career, showcasing his ability to evoke raw emotion and suspense with every note. These compositions, paired with Spielberg's masterful direction in the first movie, solidified the duo's partnership, laying the foundation for an extraordinary collaboration that would come to define an era in cinematic history.

[Mr. Hooper 1,815]

The author of that blurb seems to think that Spielberg directed Jaws 2.

[Jurassic Shark 12,105]

JW looks tiny in that picture. 

[JTN 2,064]

24 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

JW looks tiny in that picture. 

He looks tiny only…

[Bespin 8,484]

Ennio Morricone – Original Soundtracks 1964–2015: CD 6 - Cinéma Engagé / Cinema Dell'impegno / Committed Cinema 1970-71

 

[Bespin 8,484]

Gray cold sunday.

 

Listening to some excerpts from these great Bernard Herrmann re-recordings: Jane Eyre, Anna and The King (on the Fahrenheit 451 CD), The Ghost and Mrs Muir, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Hangover Square.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,563]

Excellent choice, young sir!

[Bespin 8,484]

OK, now some highlights from all the Varèse Sarabande anniversary boxsets.

[bollemanneke 3,354]

Luck, Debney. Very good score, but why did the Irish cue need to be moved all the way to the end when that God-awful, disgusting and vile Lucky Star made it into the main programme?

[Andy 4,150]

 

My goodness. It’s not that I forgot how great these are, it’s just that when enough time passes and you listen again you remember how great they are. 
 

What else is there to say, so I’ll just put out an esoteric moment that I adore from Enterprise Attacks Reliant.  There’s a little bit when Kirk is waiting for the Reliant to show up to fire on it, and it appears to flicker out of a screen of static for just a second. Horner scores that blip with a dark blast of sinister brass.  Just goosebumps that the picture was locked with enough effects for him to add that little touch. 
 

 

 

And then all Hell heroically breaks loose. 
 

is it fair to say that Kirk’s theme is almost underrated?  It’s so jaunty and cocky. 

 

 

[Tallguy 3,403]

Some people might not realize that I'm a Star Trek fan.

 

If anything Wrath of Khan has become slightly underrated. Search For Spock is probably a more "mature" and subtle work and seems to get rated a little higher that TWOK for that reason. But then people also cite Stealing the Enterprise as the standout track. And it's amazing. But it gets it's clock cleaned by Genesis Countdown.

 

Even without the whole section on Regula One and the in the Regula caves (which puts the score into a whole other crunchy scary gear) you have all of the big set pieces that Horner is just having so much FUN with. Or at least he's letting us have so much fun. And it all wraps up with Epilogue which is to this day one of my favorite Star Trek tracks of all time.

 

OTOH on TSFS you have tracks like The Mind-Meld and Returning to Vulcan (LP version, thank you) and TSFS has a melancholy wistfulness that mostly wasn't called for in TWOK. The expansion gave us Sunset on Genesis and Genesis Destroyed which are standouts.

 

I just think of them as one big score and then I don't choose.

[Faleel 5,373]

TSFS flows better.

 

TWOK has a bunch of suspense material that just doesn't do a whole bunch for me.

[Andy 4,150]

What’s the name for the Hornerism where he uses celli and whatnot to frantically ramp up the “oh shit” nail biting action with these whirling ascending clusters?  This segment was one of my favorite parts of the expansion from TSFS.   I just wanted to give this some love. 
 

 

 

 

[Faleel 5,373]

@Andy ascending, frantic whirling “oh shit” nail biting, action ramp up clusters.

[Andy 4,150]

Yes! That’s it! 
 

Soooooo good. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thor 7,542]

 

This sounds more like it's a documentary about South East Asia, not the land of my ancestors (with its flute and string instruments), but pretty nice effort nonetheless, combining music from two documentaries released in 2005. Been trying to fill in a few Alan Williams holes recently after only having owned his masterful debut AMAZON for years; he's hit and miss - some of the sample approximations of orchestral idioms don't work very well, but when it's more ethereal and New Agey, like this, it kinda works.

[filmmusic 1,844]

Lately I discovered Marco Frisina. Apparently he writes scores for religious-themes films.

The scores are great, but I cannot pinpoint any recurring characteristic themes. Of course, someone may not see this as a drawback, but I'm more or a thematic kind of guy. Even in atonal music.

 

 

[thestat 349]

Listening to Hans Zimbo's The Last Samurai in its supposedly complete form after all the fawning it gets in fan circles. I never did warm to this back in 2003 (in comparison to Gladiator, POTC or King Arthur), just felt it was perfunctory Black Rain and Beyond Rangoon idioms recycled through a post-Gladiator, Thin Red Line Zimmo-baby.

 

It's still a nice score but so obvious and predictable, sticking to the same palette with no variation. You can say whatever you want to say about Gladiator but at least it's balls-to-the-wall in its stylistic mish-mash. This just takes the ethnic stylings of all those previously mentioned scores but here, it's all part of that gloomy grandeur that goes nowhere

 

Much prefer his Pacific Heights which I listened to in full earlier today on Spotify.

 

Now, there is innovation in all the tracks (perhaps way too much of it considering how it jumps from Black Rain banging to Noir saxophone, Green Card romance, to Backdraft heroics, to Point of No Return melodramatics) - such a wonderful example of his creativity.

 

[Bespin 8,484]

Zimbo?

[Edmilson 7,488]

42 minutes ago, Bespin said:

Himbo

Fixed 

[Thor 7,542]

 

It's a great album, as usual from William T., John and Moscow. Only frustration point is that there's no overarching title, so I had to call it "Four Scores" on my hard drive, otherwise the title would be too long. I've always liked Friedhofer, and use a clip from THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES all the time in my lectures, but my exposure otherwise is pretty limited. So this is a great "sampler" that covers his colourful orchestrations. I get a little bit of Alfred Newman and a little bit of of Victor Young in his style.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,563]

More Victor Young, than Alfred Newman, I'd say, but some darn nice music, nonetheless.

[Bespin 8,484]

I took my day off! Yééé!!!

 

Listening to some underrated Goldsmith scores that I should listen to more often!

 

- The Edge OST

- The Russia House OST (from the expansion)

- The Mummy OST (from the expansion)

- The 13th Warrior OST

- The Ghost and the Darkness OST

- The Shadow OST

- First Knight OST (from the expansion)

- The Burbs (OST reconstruction from the expansion)

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,563]

THE RUSSIA HOUSE might just bethe sexiest film score that Jerry ever composed. It might just be the sexiest film score that anyone has ever composed.

[filmmusic 1,844]

15 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

THE RUSSIA HOUSE might just bethe sexyist film score that Jerry ever composed.

Do you mean the "sexiest"?

What about BASIC INSTINCT?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,563]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

Do you mean the "sexiest"?

 

Yeah, that's the one. I tried typing that, but my autocorrect kept turning it into "sexist". Ho, hum.

 

 

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

What about BASIC INSTINCT?

 

To be sure, BASIC INSTINCT is incredibly sexy, but there are a lot of violent passages ("Roxy Loses", etc.), so, for me, THE RUSSIA HOUSE takes it.

Oddly enough, my favourite cue in BASIC INSTINCT is "One Shot". I know. Go figure.

[Bespin 8,484]

Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth, observed on November 11th, is a solemn commemoration honoring military personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty during conflicts. It is marked by ceremonies, moments of silence, and the symbolic wearing of red poppies to remember and honor the sacrifices made for peace and freedom.

 

Suggested scores:

• "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) - Soundtrack by John Williams
• "War Horse" (2011) - Soundtrack by John Williams
• "1917" (2019) - Soundtrack by Thomas Newman
• "The Thin Red Line" (1998) - Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer

[crocodile 8,022]

2 hours ago, Bespin said:

Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth, observed on November 11th, is a solemn commemoration honoring military personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty during conflicts. It is marked by ceremonies, moments of silence, and the symbolic wearing of red poppies to remember and honor the sacrifices made for peace and freedom.

 

Suggested scores:

• "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) - Soundtrack by John Williams
• "War Horse" (2011) - Soundtrack by John Williams
• "1917" (2019) - Soundtrack by Thomas Newman
• "The Thin Red Line" (1998) - Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer

Angelo Badalamenti's A Very Long Engagement and John Powell's A Prussian Requiem also come to mind.

 

 

 

 

Karol

[crocodile 8,022]

Listening to Conan the Barbarian expansion from Intrada. I bought this a couple of years ago as part of one of my  big hauls and then completely forgot about that! I was going through my entire physical collection in recent weeks and found this gem. What a nice surprise to hear something completely new.

 

Karol

[Andy 4,150]

Since Early Horner is all the rage lately, you should all give Rascals and Robbers a spin.  Definitely the Star Trek / Krull / Something Wicked sound.  A great little TV score that probably should’ve had its own release instead of the B program of Jerry Goldsmith’s The Homecoming A Christmas Story, which I found pleasant enough, but not as fun as Horner’s effort. 

 

Wonder how Jerry would’ve felt about sharing billing with Horner on a release. 

 

 

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

37 minutes ago, Andy said:

Since Early Horner is all the rage lately, you should all give Rascals and Robbers a spin.  Definitely the Star Trek / Krull / Something Wicked sound.  A great little TV score that probably should’ve had its own release instead of the B program of Jerry Goldsmith’s The Homecoming A Christmas Story, which I found pleasant enough, but not as fun as Horner’s effort. 

 

Wonder how Jerry would’ve felt about sharing billing with Horner on a release. 

 

 

 

I expect he’d think “well at least it doesn’t sound like one of mine for a change…” ;-)

 

But yeah it’s a delightful score. Jerry’s is nice enough but definitely a minor effort.

[Bespin 8,484]

I have begun a James Horner marathon, exploring 8 scores that we simply don't listen to often enough.

 

• The Land Before Time OST (Remastered Edition) - 1988
• Sneakers OST - 1992
• The Rocketeer OST (from the expansion) - 1991

• The Spitfire Grill OST - 1996

• The Mask of Zorro OST - 1998

• Enemy at the Gates OST - 2001

• The Missing OST - 2003

• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas OST - 2008

[Jay 37,403]

19 hours ago, Bespin said:

scores that we simply don't listen to often enough.

 

19 hours ago, Bespin said:

• The Rocketeer 

 

Speak for yourself! 

[Jurassic Shark 12,105]

On 03/11/2023 at 8:42 PM, GerateWohl said:

Listening to the OST of Solo - A Star Wars Story. And again realizing, that this score is far too bombastic, even in little scenes. Powell pushes 80 to 100% of orchestra power most of the time. At least far too often. Less would have been more. 

 

You just need to listen to the complete score to appreciate it properly, they said. 

[Edmilson 7,488]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

You just need to listen to the complete score to appreciate it properly, they said. 

You were of course being sarcastic, but in the case of Solo this is actually true. It's less bombastic in complete form than it is on the OST.

[GerateWohl 4,395]

7 hours ago, Edmilson said:

You were of course being sarcastic, but in the case of Solo this is actually true. It's less bombastic in complete form than it is on the OST.

Actually, the score sounded overly bombastic to me at times watching the movie. And there I got the score in its complete form.

[Schilkeman 965]

10 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

Actually, the score sounded overly bombastic to me at times watching the movie. And there I got the score in its complete form.

I’m kind of with you. It has some nice moments, but I found it a little vanilla and lacking in contrast.

[Faleel 5,373]

11 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

watching the movie... I got the score in its complete form.

No you didn't

5 minutes ago, Schilkeman said:

I’m kind of with you. It has some nice moments, but I found it a little vanilla and lacking in contrast.

I think you were listening to TROS by mistake.

[Thor 7,542]

 

As usual, a schizophrenic score by the maestro for this 1972 film. Three tracks. First track, 18:22, contains his gorgeous, bittersweet sound. Second, 1:09, a dissonant bridge that leads us into the third, 15:40, which is even more dissonant and experimental. Not for the fainthearted.

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

A rare soundtrack album I would get for the songs but as Ben Folds is one of my favourite singer/songwriters, I picked up Over the Hedge on the strength of his contributions alone. Family of Me is perhaps the best of the bunch, just a shame it’s not a bit longer to be fair! Rockin the Suburbs is a family reworking of the song from the album of the same name with an hilarious rant by William Shatner (in character) over the instrumental section. Rupert G-W’s score is a lot of fun albeit without an especially strong main theme. A good companion to his better score for Bee Movie.

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,214]

I didn't even know there was more than one Folds song on this (and I've heard none as far as I know). Is the album worth it for them alone?

[Thor 7,542]

 

Elegant, sweet score that was one of my highlights of 2017.

 

 

Continuing the downkey in these morning hours, this is another gem from 2020. I actually prefer this over Kallis' more celebrated GAGARIN: FIRST IN SPACE (2013).

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

9 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I didn't even know there was more than one Folds song on this (and I've heard none as far as I know). Is the album worth it for them alone?

Family of Me and Heist are original for the film as far as I know. Aside from Rockin the Suburbs it also features Still from the Supersunnyspeedgraphic LP and is absolutely lovely (think it’s the same recording), a gorgeous ballad with some lovely string backing. There’s also a cover of Lost in the Supermarket which is fun. If you’re a big BF fan then probably worth it but if not then probably not essential… 

[Thor 7,542]

 

Great early score by Myers and Zimmer (1986). Love the "Rubin's vase" cover too.

[JTN 2,064]

DARKEST HOUR by Dario Marianelli.

 

I love this score. It has a rhythmic driving force that makes me want to face all my enemies at once. I always love Marianelli's orchestrations, and this one is a great example why. Imho he should have gotten every gig that went to Alexandre Desplat, because Dario clearly is the superior talent. And he's versatile, too, just look at his score to PRIDE & PREJUDICE and then to BUMBLEBEE, the guy excels at every genre. 

[Thor 7,542]

 

I actually just discovered this, a 1999 Van Damme film with a great Conti score, released on Dragon's Domain. All-electronic, but melodic and gorgeous textures. I know Conti has dabbled in synths now and then (including the US version of THE BIG BLUE, which is my alltime favourite of his), so this is another proof that he's got the chops for it, when required.

[Thor 7,542]

 

Trying to fill in some Conti holes, and here's another I've only known by name over the years, but got to hear now. Great stuff -- some religioso, some experimental. A keeper.

[Thor 7,542]

 

Final Conti score that made it into my collection today. Again, been aware of it forever, but only got around to it now. Love it. Sleak film noir, with plenty of haunting sax, for this 1980 John Cassavettes film. Some bits have an almost Pink Floyd or Supertramp feel.